Last Hopes Lost
by GodricsRanger
Summary: Many are dead, some are captured, and some have just plain disappeared. They're back, and this time they've taken Will's life with them. CURRENT VERSION
1. Prologue

Prologue

Will knew that it was necessary. Alyss, Halt, Gilan, and the others would understand. Hopefully.

What happens will happen, and there is nothing they will be able to do about it.

Will took one last look around the raging battle going on in front of him, and seeing that nobody was looking his way, he slid his saxe knife out of its sheath. He knew that there was pain to come, but it would all pay off in the end. Hopefully.

He lunged forward to the nearest enemy swordsman, and pretended to attack him. But all he really needed was the distraction. While the man spun around confusedly, he slashed across his front with the knife he was holding. Blood instantly began pouring out of the wound. It would look like the swordsman had injured him while spinning around, and that was exactly what he needed. He wouldn't actually die. Hopefully.

But as the world started to spin and his vision dimmed, he began to doubt.


	2. Under the Oak Tree

**First, I would like to apologize for the awful cliff-hanger at the end. I do know where it is going!**

**Second, I would like to thank Cirruz the Night Elf for a wonderful review and bugging me to write this. Thanks for making my day! **

**Enjoy!**

Chapter 1

Seeing Halt O'Carrick fighting was a normal thing. But seeing him lose-that was quite another. Even as it happened, he was only losing from sheer weight of numbers. (Which was still pretty remarkable.) He fought ferociously with bow and arrows, Saxe knife, throwing knife, and almost any other weapon that he could find on a dead opponent. There were many of them, especially near Halt. The army was huge, and Halt ferociously fought them off, but they just kept coming. After a while, despite his fitness, Halt's body began to feel the strain, but he forced himself to continue, no matter what the personal cost. This was Pauline, Gilan, and Will's lives on the line.

_Halt was having a nice, quiet day. That is, until Will showed up. Halt still thought of him as a son, even now that most of their adventures were over and Will was a grown man. Will had gotten a lot more responsible lately, and also restless because Redmont was so peaceful and there weren't any significant problems going on that needed them-they were the go team after all. Though sometimes Will's old self showed through, and this was one of those times. He banged open the creaky door of the cabin they shared so hard it slammed into the wall, making a strange scree-whump noise that was partially muffled by the cloak hanging on the wall. Normally, Halt might have jumped up and drawn his saxe knife to fight off whatever intruder had just come barging through his front door, but once again, Halt knew Will too well and had recognized his almost silent footsteps on the veranda as he was sipping his midday coffee. Why Will was in such a rush, he had yet to find out._

_Of course the first words out of Will's mouth were exactly what Halt was wondering._

_"Redmont's been taken!"_

_For anyone but Halt, this might have at least stunned them for a second, but Halt's mind instantly processed this and he immediately asked the natural question._

_"Who did it?"_

_Will gravely looked his old mentor in the eye for a long second before replying "It's the Temujai. They're back for revenge."_

Back for revenge- indeed they were. They struck swiftly, killed Baron Arald, and took over the castle in a matter of minutes. Then again, it wasn't very difficult when your attacking force was 8 times the size of the defending force. Redmont was completely unprepared for the assault, and it took its toll.

A few days after taking over the castle, and when they were settled in, they began ravaging the countryside and murdering anyone they came across. They arrived at a farm, killed the occupants, stole the food and livestock, burned the house and left. The rangers had frantically tried to fend off these attacks, but they were too random and happened too quickly for them to do anything about them. Word had been sent to the king right when the first attacks on the castle started, but the Temujai had somehow brought over thousands of men and surrounded the castle in a 5-mile radius of mounted cavalry. Any men from the king would take at least two weeks to get there, and Redmont's neighbor fiefs were much too small to provide any kind of military support. That left the surviving occupants of Redmont on their own, and the Temujai had all the power.

After a week's worth of frantic defense, the rebel force that consisted of Halt, Will, a few other rangers that made it through the heavy barriers of men and a hundred or so castle and countryside occupants received a message from the Temujai. It read:

_To Rebels_

_From All Superior Temujai Army_

_Before you continue fighting this useless battle , you might want to consider a few things. We have your castle, and there is nothing you can do to get it back. Your people are perishing by the day in our very productive raids. There is no help coming. You are losing._

_If you want the raids to stop, all you have to do is hand over the arrogant boy by the name of Will Treaty. _

_If you do not, not only will you be sealing your own fates, but those of two members of your rebel force we took in earlier today. We have been informed that their names are Pauline and Gilan. Consider this._

_Remember who is in power here._

That was it. The ransom note for his wife and former apprentice. If he didn't want them killed, he had to hand in the other person he loved. It was a lose-lose situation, and for the first time in his life, Halt didn't know what to do about it. The only thing he could do was continue attempting to fight back.

That was what Halt was doing right now-fighting back. They had finally organized the farmers into a fighting force and attacked the castle defenses. However, it had gone badly and the fight had gradually moved across the field and into a clearing in the forest. Almost half of their force had been killed in the initial attack- a huge portion of their already small force. It was down to the rangers to keep the rest of the people safe, but Halt's main goal was to keep Will out of Temujai hands. Will still insisted that he be able to fight, and as he would obviously be a great help, in the end Halt gave in. Now Will was shooting Temujai from a distance with only the occasional close-quarters fight, which was the compromise.

Just as Halt thought of Will, there was a brief respite in enemies to attack as the focal point moved away from him, and he quickly spun around to check on Will. His heart leaped when he saw no sign of him. Halt quickly called for another warrior to take his place in the line, threw the cowl of his cloak over his head, and disappeared into the background to look for Will. Halt made a large circle of the battle going on, and still not seeing him, ducked into the forest to search for him in there.

As he jogged silently through the trees, he was reminded of another time and another place, many years ago, also searching for Will. Except this time, there was no burly warrior named Horace walking next him, and the boy he was searching for was not a boy anymore but a man. This was a rather saddening thought, but it did not take long for the complete and utter pride in his accomplishments to take over. Will may not have been aware of it, but he was already one of the most famous Rangers to come about in many years. He was only rivaled by himself and maybe Crowley at this point, although he was probably better than the old Commandant.

Halt rounded a copse of trees and finally spotted his former apprentice. He was lying on the ground at the base of a great oak tree, deathly pale, a huge bloody cut across his entire front. Halt sprang to his son's side and immediately felt for a pulse. What he felt there scared him more than anything ever had in his life.

Nothing.


	3. Fresh white sheets

**Sorry for the way-too-long update, but I had some writing block and my co-writer can't finish the story. Instead I am taking it over. Hopefully I will update a little (or a lot) more often in the future. **

**I want to especially thank all the people who sent wonderful reviews. Thanks to you all!**

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><p>Inside Halt's cabin, the only colors were black and white. A black mood encased and consumed the whole cabin, while under the sheet it was a whole different white world. Will's face was so stark white, while meanwhile beneath his eyelids it was all black again. Halt definitely noticed the two spots of white, but did not even realize that beyond the cabin, the castle was entirely black instead. One of the kingdoms best young heroes had been killed, and his last thanks and farewell were only a few days away. Preparations were long over, but not because of hastiness. So many people had turned out to help and remember, it took no more than two days. Indeed, the only person who had not turned out was Halt himself. He knew perfectly well that the preparations would be handled without him, and in the meantime he had a different job. After the battle had been won in a surprising finish, he had doubly insisted that Will's body be kept with him. The reason he presented was that it was a trophy for the Temujai, and need to be protected so he could be given a proper burial. Everyone knew, though, that all he really wanted was to be with him. Nobody protested, and he was left alone.<p>

He rarely left the cabin, and when he did it was only to replenish the water, buy a small amount of food supplies from the village, or feed the horses. Tug had been acting strangely lately, but it did not worry Halt. What horse wouldn't after it had seen its master dead? After all, he had more important things to worry about.

Halt had not been to the village in a few days, and was running dangerously low on food. He was in a rather sullen mood (when wasn't he these days?) and generally did not want to enter a social place such as the market. He grumpily stepped out onto the doorstep, and glanced back at Will's form through the doorway into the next room. Will had been such a great young man, and death had unfairly chosen to take the wrong person. He sighed a deep, pained, gutted sigh, and stumped out the door.

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><p>Waking up was painful. It was also a very long process. The drugs were still wearing off, and intentionally or unintentionally, he had nearly bled himself to death. It must have been very realistic.<p>

He was just barely conscious enough for the sound of the door closing to make its way into his head, but it took a lot longer than that for it to register what that meant. Someone had just left. At that point, he wasn't quite sure who had left, and where they had left from, but if he had heard the person leave, then he must be in that place too. A sudden curiosity as to where he actually was overcame his weak mind, and with it came feeling in his arms and legs. His senses sharpened and he could smell wood, coffee, and most of anything, fresh sheets. He wondered why he could smell sheets so much, and opened his eyes. His question was answered when all he could see was the sheet lying on his face. The question had only just entered his head when everything came flooding back to him. The Temujai, the note, and his decision. Then lots of pain, and blackness.

He slowly raised himself up onto his heavy arms and pushed the sheet off his face. He was in his own bedroom in his and Halt's cabin. The white sheet lying bunched up around his waist was the kind used to cover dead bodies before burial. The thought briefly crossed his mind that things would not have gone as well if he had been buried before waking up. The drugs he had used to mimic death had lasted longer than he thought they would. That would also explain the painfully empty stomach and dry mouth he had.

He carefully lifted his legs over the side of the bed and tried putting a little weight on them. He was a little wobbly, but not too bad. It would be enough to finish what he had started. There were a lot of things he had to do, and it had to be just as convincing as his supposed death. After all, dead people can't just get up and walk away. No, he had to make it seem like the very people he was fighting against had taken him. That was absolutely essential to Will's plan.


	4. A cloak and two knives

**I apologize for how poorly written this chapter is. I just wanted to make sure I updated like I said I would. As a matter of fact, I apologize for how poorly written this story is. If you've managed to keep up so far, I applaud you.**

Will's goal was simple. Make it very clear that his disappearance was because the Temujai had stolen his body, when in truth they had not.

He thrust out his foot and knocked over the kitchen table, and quickly followed with the upturning of the two chairs next to it. Next was the wooden couch. He broke off one arm with another kick just for good measure. The cutlery and plates soon joined everything else (smashed on the floor), although he was careful not to break the coffee pot. He simply could not bring himself down to that level. To top it all off, he took large handfuls of dead ash from the fireplace and spread it over the mess.

Once he was finished, Will only stopped for a brief moment to observe the destruction. Halt could get back any moment, and whatever he'd been able to do was enough. The important part was him getting out. He went out the back door, and closed it behind him. He had only gone a few steps along the porch before he realized that Halt had been bolting the doors lately, so invaders would have a hard time just waltzing in. He spun around and grabbed the deck chair next to the door. A quick thrust at the door had splintered it just enough that a round-house kick broke it off the top hinge. Satisfied, he continued down the steps and into the bright afternoon sunlight of the clearing.

The strange boots on his feet sounded like a blundering grizzly bear in a forest full of small dry sticks. He sighed and wished he could use his old, familiar ones. Since Halt was a master at reading footprints and evidence, Will's obviously ranger boots would do him no good. He had needed regular boots, but they also needed to be close to what the Temujai wear, also for Halt's benefit. When he had first come up with the grim plan, he had thought through all the details, and had secured a pair of relatively foreign styled boots in the village. He'd stashed them in his room, and the first thing he had done, before trashing anything, was change his boots. They'd left his boots and cloak on, and had even strapped his knives on his belt. Will supposed it was out of respect, and he guessed he would have been buried with them on. That at least, he was thankful for. He wasn't sure what he would do if he had to leave the cabin with no weapons.

Will grimaced, and stopped in the middle of the clearing. He looked back at the cabin, and had to fight the urge to run back inside. There were so many things that could have gone wrong, and he should have been thankful that nothing did. However, this next part was the part he had dreaded most. He had to leave it all behind, and he couldn't even take Tug. That was way too suspicious. Everything he had grown up with, all his possessions and everyone he knew all had to be left behind. He might not ever be able to see them again. If the Temujai continued their deathly campaign and Araluen collapsed, he would have to flee and never return. Even now he was a serious danger to his friends. That was he had to fake his death in the first place. If he was dead, he was no use to them as a way of getting what they wanted. The ransom couldn't be fulfilled, and it left the remaining inhabitants of the village **(1)** and woods with some opportunity to negotiate and give the troops from surrounding fiefs time to arrive.

In the meantime, he had other things to do. Even if he couldn't help directly, he still intended to help from the sidelines, or even from within the enemy. It would be difficult, but at least would take his mind away from Halt and Alyss and Tug.

Will forced his legs to move again. He looked away from the cabin, and instead focused on his new goal. He plunged into the woods. It was now or never.

He did not look back again.

**(1) (Yeah, I fail at this.) The Temujai took over the castle, but left the village mostly to its own devices. They have soldiers all over, but the village must go on.**


	5. On the ashes of his past

**Listen to Rue's farewell from the Hunger Games on youtube while reading this and the proper mood will be established.**

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><p>Everywhere went, Halt got looks of sympathy, of sadness, of understanding. But at the same time, he got looks of hopelessness, and despair, and felt that no one in the world could understand. It was his oldest friend, his fearless commander that was missing. It was his wife, his love that was taken. It was his first apprentice, his first success, that was too noble, and had gone with the taken. It was his territory, his home that was infested. It was his boy, his man, his child that was gone.<p>

It was his happiness.

But it was also his life, and he had no other. Will may have passed on, but it was for a cause. In the end, they had killed the greatest hero ever known.

Even the impossible was possible.

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><p>The village was nearly empty. With Baron Arald and the castle staff all killed, the people's only protection left was Halt himself, a couple rangers that had made it through the border, and a few castle guards who had been at home at the time. This was nowhere even close to enough to protect a whole village, and most people elected to stay in the relative safety of their homes. But still, people need to eat, so there were some vendors out.<p>

Halt walked up to the stall that he always bought his coffee beans from, and the man automatically started measuring out his normal amount. Halt and Will bought coffee so often that it had become a ritual for the vendor.

"Half."

Halt's voice was scratchy and a little ragged as he said the solitary word. The man looked up in surprise, then horror. He realized that the ranger's normal amount of coffee was for two people, not one. Now that Will was gone, he would need only half of that amount. He was briefly afraid that Halt would be angry, but what he could see beneath the cloak was not anger at all. He hurriedly took some beans out of the bag and handed the rest to the Ranger. A coin appeared on the table and Halt disappeared.

Halt quickly purchased the other goods he would need for the coming days, and rode Abelard back to the cabin. As he entered the small stable on the side of the cabin, Tug let out a loud whinny, louder than normal. He shook his head violently and strained at his ropes. It might have been unusual, but Tug had been doing it ever since Will died. Halt shook his head sadly and went inside.

The creaky door opened, and he silently stepped inside. Or he would have stepped in silently, if it weren't for the broken glass that crunched as he stepped on it. Halt was shocked only for the briefest of moments before he began taking stock of the situation. All of the plates and cups had been smashed, along with the table and one of the chairs that lay in a broken heap on the floor of the cabin. The back door was hanging on one of its hinges, and ashes from the fireplace were everywhere. A pair of boot prints was in the ashes everywhere.

He wondered why their cabin had been ransacked. There was no apparent reason for destroying things and leaving. Had they intended to kill him, and then left when they discovered he wasn't there? But that was unlikely, since there was only one person's footprints in the ashes. Even the Temujai knew that you needed more than just one person to kill a Ranger. Will had kept his own for a long time in his last battle, only succumbing when the numbers had become so ridiculously weighted towards the enemy that everyone else had been forced to escape or face death themselves. Everyone was surprised when the Temujai did not retaliate or come after them, but nobody pushed their luck by asking about it. The Temujai had a plan, and you were lucky to be survivor in it, even if it was temporary.

Suddenly Halt's attention was caught on the other side of the cabin. The door to Will's room was open. He strode over the mess and into his room, expecting to see the shape of Will's body under the sheet in the same place it had been for the past three days. Instead, there was nothing but a tangled white sheet lying on the bare mattress and the small pillow lying on the floor.

Instantly, Halt was outraged as the person's true intentions became clear. They took Will's body! He flew out the back door in the way that only a ranger could, and followed the tracks across the clearing. If he could catch them in time, he could get Will back…

He froze, just as he was about to enter the forest. By the tracks, he knew they had an hour's lead on him. Even with the person bringing the extra weight of Will's body with them, they would be well ahead by now. He couldn't risk following them straight into the camp. If he got killed (which the odds for had increased lately, because of his delirious state), it would be a major blow to the resistance. He was probably the most capable of all the rangers present, and the people of the village depended on him. Rangers swore to put the kingdom first over personal matters, and that was definitely applicable in his current situation. Just as he originally had to all those years ago when Will was captured by the Skandians, he had to let him go.

Halt sat down on a nearby rock, in total despair, and that is when he glanced at the tracks again. This time, something seemed a little wrong about them. The clues were very subtle, and anyone less experienced than himself would have never picked up on the flaws. The boot prints were certainly not from anywhere around here, but they didn't seem quite Temujai-like either. And where was the horse? It was quite a distance from the camp to come here, not one that they would likely take on foot. It almost looked like Will had got up and walked out on his own. But there was no way that could be true. There was a set of footprints leading to the cabin, not just away from it. And besides, Will was dead. Dead and gone, never to walk the cabin again…

The wave of emotion hit Halt hard. He rarely felt much of anything, but he had been rather unhinged lately. But looking at the broken door, he realized that the final remains of Will were gone. There was nothing left. Complete eradication.

And for the second time in a week, the tears came.

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><p><strong>Just a couple notes before you click that review button (hint hint). I'd like to give a huge shout out to KASMN, without whom there would not have been another chapter for who knows how long. Thank you so much! Also, i apologize if Halt is ooc (out of character for those that don't know), but i had to give the impression of a man who has had everything taken away from him. You would be acting strangely if this happened to you, too. So now go hence forth and review!<strong>


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